Nightfall - By Isaac Asimov Robert Silverberg Page 0,12

without being overwhelmed by compassion and sorrow. Sheerin was surprised at that, how tenderhearted he seemed to have become, how thin-skinned.

That first one, Harrim, the longshoreman-he looked tough enough to withstand anything. And yet fifteen minutes of Darkness on his trip through the Tunnel of Mystery had reduced him to such a state that merely to relive the trauma in memory sent him into babbling hysteria. How terribly sad that was.

And then the other two, in the afternoon-they had been in even worse shape. Gistin 190, the schoolteacher, that lovely frail woman with the dark, intelligent eyes-she hadn't been able to stop sobbing for a moment, and though she was able to speak clearly and well, at least in the beginning, her story had degenerated into mere incoherent blurtings within a few sentences. And Chimmilit 97, the high school athlete, obviously a perfect physical specimen-Sheerin wasn't going quickly to forget how the boy had reacted to the sight of the afternoon sky when Sheerin opened the blinds in his room. There was Onos blazing away in the west, and all that huge handsome boy could manage to say was, "The Darkness-the Darkness-" before he turned away and tried to scuttle down under his bed!

The Darkness-the Darkness- And now, Sheerin thought gloomily, it's my turn to take a ride in the Tunnel of Mystery.

Of course, he could simply refuse. There was nothing in his consulting contract with the Municipality of Jonglor that required him to risk his sanity. He'd be able to render a valid enough opinion without actually sticking his neck into peril.

But something in him rebelled at such timidity. His professional pride, if nothing else, was pushing him toward the Tunnel He was here to study the phenomenon of darkness and to help these people work out ways not only of healing the present victims but of preventing recurrences of these tragedies. How could he deign to explain what had happened to the Tunnel's victims if he didn't make a close study of the cause of their disturbances? He bad to. It would be sheer malfeasance to back out.

Nor did he want anyone, not even these strangers here in Jonglor, to be able to accuse him of cowardice. He remembered the taunts of his childhood: "Fatty is a coward! Fatty is a coward!" All because he hadn't wanted to climb a tree that was obviously beyond the capabilities of his heavy, ill-coordinated body.

But Fatty wasn't a coward. Sheerin knew that. He was content with himself: a sane, well-balanced man. He simply didn't want other people making incorrect assumptions about him because of his unheroic appearance.

Besides, fewer than one out of ten of those who had gone through the Tunnel of Mystery had come out of it showing any symptoms of emotional disturbance. And those people must have been vulnerable in some special way. Precisely because he was so sane, Sheerin told himself, because he was so well balanced, he had nothing to fear.

Nothing- Th- Fear- He kept repeating those words to himself until he felt almost calm.

Even so, Sheerin was something other than his customary jolly self as he went downstairs to wait for the hospital car to pick him up.

Kelaritan was there, and Cubello, and a striking-looking woman named Varitta 312, who was introduced to him as one of the engineers who had designed the Tunnel. Sheerin greeted them all with hearty handshakes and a broad smile that he hoped seemed convincing.

"A nice day for a trip to the amusement park," he said, trying to sound jovial.

Kelaritan looked at him oddly. "I'm glad you feel that way. Did you sleep well, Dr. Sheerin?"

"Very well, thanks. As well as could be expected, I should say. After seeing those unhappy people yesterday."

Cubello said, "You aren't optimistic about their chances of recovery, then?"

"I'd like to be," Sheerin told the lawyer ambiguously.

The car moved smoothly down the street.

"It's about a twenty-minute drive to the Centennial Exposition grounds," Kelaritan said. "The Exposition itself will be crowded-it is every day-but we've had a big section of the amusement area roped off so that we won't be disturbed. The Tunnel of Mystery itself, as you know, has been shut down since the full extent of the troubles became apparent."

"You mean the deaths?"

"Obviously we couldn't allow the ride to remain open after that," Cubello said. "But you must realize that we were considering shutting down much earlier. It was a question of determining whether the people who appeared to have been disturbed by their trips through